Confused students are choosing the wrong university degrees, research shows

‘Overwhelming, complex and confusing.’ Thousands of school leavers have cast judgment on universities’ admissions systems in a new study that calls for better career guidance.

Better careers counselling will save the economy billions of dollars by ensuring workers don’t waste time and money studying the wrong degree, a new report claims.

Confused students need better career guidance at school and clearer information from universities to avoid choosing the wrong degree and dropping out, a new study warns.

HEDx and Year 13 have calculated that poor career planning is costing the economy $3.5bn a year by exacerbating skills gaps for industry.

Barely a quarter of school leavers feel that school has prepared them for work and tertiary study, based on interviews with 3030 young Australians aged 15 to 24.

The report says school leavers and their parents find the university entry process “extremely overwhelming, complex and confusing’’.

“This manifests into an inability to make a well-informed decision, both where to go and what course to choose,’’ it states.

“(This) can ultimately impact student engagement and ­retention.

“Quite often they’re making a decision under this idea that it’ll help buy them more time to figure out what it is they actually want to pursue.

“Students are making uninformed decisions which is impacting tertiary education outcomes and attainment.’’

The report calls on universities to adapt their courses to keep pace with rapidly changing careers and industry requirements.

“Higher education providers need to improve how they evolve their offerings to better match the changing times,’’ it states.

“A lot of students are falling through the gaps.’’

Year13 co-founder and co-CEO Will Stubley warns that too many school leavers are falling through the gaps.

The report calls for less reliance on the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR), and more focus on students’ work experience, extra-curricular activities and micro-credentials.

“There is overwhelming consensus that the ATAR is not an accurate representation of a student’s full future capabilities, skills and potential to succeed in further education and training,’’ it states.

“We are measuring the wrong metrics, and therefore, valuing the wrong things.’’

The report says the ATAR is a number between 0.00 and 99.95 that indicates a student’s academic position relative to all the students in their age group.

“It is not a measure of total educational performance in high school, it is not a cumulative grade or mark, and takes into account nothing beyond how well a student performs compared to others in an exam, at a point of time,’’ it states.

“(ATAR is) … more an operational convenience for those administering the system.’’

The report reveals that high school students are “playing the game’’ of choosing subjects based on the perceived weighting and scaling for ATAR.

“Some teachers themselves are encouraging students to pursue non-ATAR subjects in an effort to maintain the school’s status and reputation benchmarking,’’ it states.

The report says career education is “inconsistent, inadequate and under-resourced’’, with a national average of one counsellor for every 560 high school students.

It warns that school leavers’ career and study choices rely “heavily on individual initiative and sporadic guidance’’.

Two-thirds of young Australians feel anxious about career planning, the study found.

Year13 co-founder Will Stubley called on high schools to pay more attention to students’ post-school options.

“What starts off as a small problem of a young person finishing school and being unsure of what is best for them becomes a big problem down the track, ultimately costing the economy in lost productivity,’’ he said.